I don’t have anything but good things to say about this movie. I woke up late one Saturday morning, about 11:00AM and was sitting around drinking my coffee and Tron: Legacy started maybe 5 minutes ago. I ended up sitting there for 2 hours and 5 minutes watching until the very end of the film.
There wasn’t a whole lot of character development, but I didn’t need it because you’re pushed into the action almost immediately. The visuals were crisps, shots were amazing, music pleasing, it all just worked for me personally. I recall watching the original Tron back in college one night when nothing else was worth watching. It was way ahead of its time, and for the sequel, it’s just a perfect update.
I loved this movie, so it gets 5 stars. On the 10 scale, it’s probably around a 7/8.
Brooklyn’s Finest came out earlier this year and I wanted to see it in theaters. However, as I’m one to do, I didn’t go to the theater to see this movie. I watched it the other night and I “Finest” is not a word I would use in a critique.
This film puts two big names and two pretty sizeable names together… as stock characters. Richard Gere = burnt out cop X days away from retirement. He’ll most likely put a pistol in his mouth like George C. Scott in The New Centurions. Don Cheadle = undercover cop that’s been in deep for too long and wants to get out. Ethan Hawke = frustrated cop since he cannot properly provide for his family so he steals some drug money and has a personal/religious conundrum about it all. Wesley Snipes = Some sort of high up drug dealer in the street echelon that’s out on appeal.
SPOILER ALERT: THEY ALL DIE! Well, not Richard Gere, but his character would’ve killed himself if given the opportunity. I mean, hell, he was about to do it but then got distracted.
For two thirds of this movie I was all in, thinking, “How could people say this movie wasn’t good?” Then the third act comes at you, rushed, and I felt sloppy in its delivery. It’s like they filmed the movie sequentially and got tired near the end. Due to this snafu in their delivery, I did not like this movie. The character development wasn’t really there either since they explain the characters in one scene/sequence and that’s that. It’s probably just me, but when I sit through a majority of a movie and then start to not like it, it’s not my fault. I WAS liking it a lot. Brooklyn’s Finest gets two stars, it’s not a bad movie, just one that I did not like.
Okay, so as previously stated, I’m off until the 3rd of January and I’m back to my old groove with reviewing films. I decided to go off the beaten track and picked this anime, don’t even ask me what the fuck it was doing on my queue. I thought, “It’s something different for me to look at for the tumblr.”
Netflix synopsis from instant queue: “In this animated film, Japan is under two regimes after the country’s loss in World War II. Hokkaido remains under Japanese rule while America holds the rest, a bitter division that’s wrenched the nation and left its citizens confused.”
I know some of you are going to say, “That’s not the synopsis on Netflix! It says so much more!” Again, I’ll say that’s what the INSTANT QUEUE SYNOPSIS said. The one that was on my 19” Sylvania low def piece hunk of shit TV. The real movie’s about kids doing something kiddish and stupid: build their own airplane… or something, since I didn’t really feel a plot coming together. ”But Chris, you’re supposed to wait 20 or so minutes for the movie to pull you in.” I gave it 30 minutes and said, enough of this.
One big positive: the animation is vivid and strikingly amazing. Yet, I don’t watch a movie to see an art museum, I want CATHARSIS, damnit.
So I liked the visuals, just not the story, so two stars for The Place Promised in Our Early Days.
After a lengthy one month hiatus of over working myself as an underemployed college graduate, I can once again pay attention to my beloved Netflix + my First Amendment. I’m off until the 3rd of January (or so) and I can sit back, clinking ice cubes in a bourbon filled glass, watching movies.
I saw Yogi Bear on account of a semi-reunion of college friends. Two friends of mine, Adam and Jeff, worked as visual artists and a Facebook event was planned. Adam prefaced the movie with the statement, “Alright, just so everyone know what they’re getting into, it’s a movie about a talking bear.” With that out there, let me get down to telling my two cents.
I liked it. Perhaps it was Dan Aykroyd, perhaps Anna Farris, maybe even the corrupt and incompetent Mayor played by Andrew Daly, that added to my liking this child’s film. Yet, I think it more or less came down to remembering a time of innocence where I would’ve made my parents watch a movie of the same caliber 20 times and laugh all the time. (Nowadays I still do the same, but it’s down to around 8 times.) Or maybe it didn’t, I don’t know. It’s a comedy it made me laugh, so what else do I need? Everything ended happily ever after and then I went out to a bar. I can’t complain!
Congratulations Adam and Jeff, I hope to see your names many, many more times in the scrolling sea of words at the end of the movie.
Casey Affleck stars in this remake as a ‘dim’ small town west Texas sheriff’s deputy, Lou Ford. Lou suffers from a sickness. The film takes place in the 50s when anything psychological just kind of fell under the umbrella of “sickness.”
I feel that the jury’s still out on Casey’s southern accents. The Assassination of Jesse James he pulled it off, but there’s just something about it that sounds off. Anyway, you kind of tell that Lou’s not all there from the get go. What proceeds for the rest of a film is Lou’s scheme where he’s “got one foot on each side of the fence.” I can’t really explain this film without a highly detailed synopsis full of spoilers that leaves you no reason to watch. (Like that time I reviewed L4yer Cake.)
Some noteworthy parts include the complexity of the story and how it keeps your attention. You go all in to see everything play out. The soundtrack plays some oldie 50s country-western songs at just the right moments. Art direction brings their A game to recreate the 50s.
The film’s conclusion starts off chillingly calm, especially with Lou knowing the outcome that he planned out. Parts of this film get rough, even for me, and I’m a rock when it comes to movie content. I thought it’d be better, but I still liked it, so The Killer Inside Me gets three stars.
For once I’m UBER excited for reviewing a film. The Good, the Bad, and The Weird falls under a tribute/remake of Sergio Leone’s Western masterpiece, The Good The Bad, and The Ugly. The first time I saw the latter I was young and impressionable, probably middle-school aged. I woke up on a Saturday back when TNT was channel 37 and the majority of their morning programming was western themed (Western movies, Brisco County Jr., etc.) Throughout the epic I was awestruck, all the way until that last shot Eastwood takes from his horse. That film became one of my ‘watch anytime I catch it on TV’ movies.
Fast forward to college aged me: I’m flipping through some film magazine while at work in the library, maybe Variety, maybe American Cinematographer, maybe Film Journal. An article catches my eye, about a Korean version of the famed western, The Good, The Bad, and The Weird. My interest peaks but it would take me nearly two more years to see this film. Netflix had it available, but then it became “SAVED” on my queue. I was supposed to get this as a gift, but did not. Time kept passing until I finally see it in the SAVED QUEUE section as August 17, 2010. Finally! Without further drum up, I see if it was worth the wait.
Take a map to Kanemaru… then steal it back after getting paid. Okay, adventure on the way. Wow, Manchuria looks very similar to the Old West, even has a steam locomotive. Also a WOW to the art direction and production design, (no wonder it’s the most expensive movie in Korea as of 2009.) Oh please tell me this opening is indicative of the tone set for the rest of this film.
The shot composition homage of the bold closeups show up early. Park Chang-Yi is “The Bad,” sure he looks like a pretty boy, but his ACTIONS make him “The Bad.” This other guy is “The Weird,” Yoon Tae-Goo, he’s competent but has an air of foolishness about him. Finally, “The Good”; shotgun wielding bounty hunter Park Do-Won.
Now, The Weird gets the map before The Bad, kicking off the bigger chase. The map shows where a treasure belonging to the Qing Dynasty. Besides the three main characters, there’s a tribe and the Japanese Army looking for this same treasure. There’s some sprinkling of comedy within this film, like when Yoon, The Weird, finds out his 300 won bounty is worth no more than a used piano. Also, there’s a scene where The Good and The Weird encounter The Bad and his gang. The Weird gets his head put through the ceiling of a shack, begging Park, The Good to throw him his pistols. With utter nonchalant, non-urgency, he gets them thrown at him.
After the marketplace shootout, it’s safe to say there’s plenty more action to come. The opium den scene goes out there a little, but it all comes back around. The following fight scenes when The Weird escapes borders absurdity, but it has a purpose: the involvement of the Japanese Army into the treasure hunting equation. There’s a history lesson from the opium dealer, watch it in the movie, I can’t do it justice, but it deals with how Japan takes over surrounding areas from the 1900s onward. The Army wants the treasure so the freedom fighters don’t claim it, since that would make trouble for the occupying forces.
Now, the climax of the rising action (not the climax itself, that’s after this), causes all parties involved in the treasure hunt to collide with brute force. Okay, I’ll admit the lengthy nature of the sequence, yet it works. The vast openness of the desert shows how far everyone is willing to go for treasure! Also, this is a huge lead in for the grand finale.
Finally, it ends, just not like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but still good. IMDB trivia puts this as the most expensive movie made in Korea, and I can see where the money went; into a film that I really liked. 4 stars and a BIGGO SEE IT! I left a lot of details of story out, but it’s a stylish, solid movie built for utter enjoyment, if you like westerns/actions/subtitles. Yes, the plot is a simple story, but you’ll see nothing simple about this quest for treasure.
A black and white film where Walter Pidgeon plays Alan Thorndike, a Briton doing some hunting in the Bavarian Alps. He’s just looking around minding his own business when he eyes none other than ADOLPH HITLER through his rifle’s scope. Hitler, just going for a stroll. What luck! He’ll just put a round into the chamber… oh… bad idea with that German soldier behind him.
The one way he’s given as an out would be sign a confession stating that he had the intention of assassinating Hitler due to an assignment by the British government. A prompt refusal and Thorndike receives a vicious beating. Therefore, the head German decides to fake his suicide in the wilderness. That way, they just find a dead Thorndike, too bad he doesn’t die and manages to escape back to England… with Gestapo on his tail.
The thrills come from the chase. Throndike lucks out, finding a British ship with a Danish registry and a young, trusting boy who helps him get back. Too bad the Germans plant John Carradine to assume Thorndike’s identity. An imposter! Alan makes is back, after a close call, and even picks up a lady friend, Gerri, who helps him out. Introduce the love story angle which adds some lead to the plot, but don’t worry, it’s all for a good reason in the end.
Music plays a chief role throughout Man Hunt; foreboding, light and airy, pensive, hopeful, etc. Yet, for a man wanted by the SS he’s pretty apathetic to the situation for a big chunk of time. An hour in, this film goes from a thriller to a plodding along love story. Remember: WANTED MAN! Speaking of which, he’s being tailed by John Carradine! Hopefully that’s the confrontation that’s brewing for the end. Realizing this, Thorndike plans his final escape. He narrowly makes his escape after a John Carradine encounter, and then later on gets cock-blocked by a Bobby even!
Now, the climax comes about when Gerri is kidnapped, meaning I was wrong about the love story angle, since it all comes around. The final showdown between the monocle guy and Thorndike. With only fifteen minutes to improvise, the suspense rises to an 8 or so. At first I didn’t know Fritz Lang helmed this as director. I wasn’t too keen on this one, yet at the same time, I wasn’t un-keen on it. It wasn’t a masterpiece but it was far from a piece of crap. So, three stars for Man Hunt even with a very campy ending, although it makes perfect sense.
During the mid to late 80s up to the early 90s, Tom Hanks starred in many comedy movies. The ‘Burbs contains a bunch of laughs and still is a classic in my house. In fact, the other day I watched it with my parents, which prompts this review.
Tom Hanks plays Ray Peterson, Carrie Fisher, his sensible wife, Ric Ducommun his a lug of a neighbor, totally siding with the theory of the Klopeks being part of a satanic cult that murders people. Furthermore, Bruce Dern shows up in a comedic role for a change, as Lt. Rummsfeld, a Viet Nam vet and Corey Feldmen as a teenager painting his parent’s house and watching everything unfold in front of him.
Walter disappears one day as Rummsfeld’s wife tries to return his dog, as the group finds out that Walter has gone missing. Immediately the Klopeks are put into the spotlight, due to their quiet, keep-to-themselves nature. More evidence piles up as Ray’s dog finds a femur bone under the fence by the property line. It is only after a meeting with the Klopeks that everything seems alright. Yet, Ray finds Walter’s hairpiece that he had deliberately left at Walter’s after putting it through the mail slot with a note. Ray tells Art and Rummsfeld, “Nobody knocks off an old man in my neighborhood and gets away with it.” This is when the real action starts in this quirky, black comedy horror movie.
The characters all play off each other: Ray as an Everyman, Art as the lovable lug, Rummsfeld as the military vet, Fisher as the sensible wife. Every viewing still cracks me up. There are some really good one-liners. You even see what could’ve been the predecessor to Woody, from Toy Story, in the scenes where Hanks flips out. I love this movie, since it’s a classic in my household, so it gets 5 stars from this guy (me.)
